A Touch of Destiny
by Lady Dawson
Summary: Lily Sawyer has always wondered about her mother. When her father is killed right in front of her, she is sent to Camp Half-Blood, where she will find the answers she always sought and begin a journey that will lead her to her destiny.
1. A Time of Change

**A Touch of Destiny**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: A Time of Change

My dad always had an old saying: "Nothing last forever except change. Change is the only thing that will always remain constant, no matter how much you may try and stop it. The only thing that lasts forever is change. Sometimes you can't always see it, but you can feel it."

It would be years before I would understand what he meant by that, years before I understood the wisdom of his words. I would be a woman grown by the time that truly understood what he meant by that, but at the time, I was only a kid, not even thirteen years old.

But I can still remember when everything did change for me, when my whole life was turned upside down. It was late May, when the weather had began to turn hot and steamy, making the apartment that my dad and I lived at uncomfortable and made us short of temper.

My dad's Charlie Sawyer; he's an artist that spent most of his life on the road until he met my mom and had me. Even after he had me, he spent a lot of time on the road. My first real memories are of us driving on the highway, but eventually, he settled down in New York, sold his van—which, really, wasn't worth very much—and got an apartment and began getting serious about his work, actually having a gallery done at a nearby studio. If you ever get the chance, you should check some of his work, because he really is an amazing artist.

It was just another day at school as I headed into the building and went to class. I don't have a lot of friends, because most people either think that I'm stuck up or believe that I'm too good to talk to them, because I spent most of my time drawing instead of actually talking to people. It's not that I don't like talking; it's just that I don't know what to say to people when I first meet them. Once I get to know them, then I tend to open up a bit more, but in the beginning, I just don't really know what to say to them, so they just think that I think they're not worth my time.

Anyway, so it was just another normal day at school. The teachers had opened up the windows, because it was getting too stuffy in the classrooms and kids were having trouble concentrating because of the heat and in those old buildings, they have trouble working the A/C, but even with that, it was still stifling hot.

Since the school year was nearly over, my dad was planning our summer trip and we were leaving right after school ended. We did this every single year, taking off right after classes ended and would come back a couple weeks before school started. This seemed to quell both of our restless spirits.

Of course, mine had more to do with my ADHD, which I pretty much blamed on my dad until I found out the truth about my mom. Hey, I was a kid and all I knew about my mom was that she had left when I was still a baby and my dad was always on the move, always going places, never settled with just hanging around the apartment, preferring to see new places, do new things, always looking towards the horizon.

It was just a regular day at school and it was just another afternoon when I walked home to our downtown apartment.

My bags were already packed and I already had my sketchpad and drawing pencils into my travel bag, plus my camera, and I was more than ready to leave, especially before my dad got word of my latest report card. It wasn't that I wasn't bright, but in addition to my ADHD, I also had dyslexia, which made it kind of hard for tests, especially in English, when I not only had to attempt to read the book assigned, but I also had to answer the questions about it, none of which seemed to make any sense. I did try to make sense of it, but the only book that had ever made sense to me was some of my dad's books on ancient artist from Greece, which was written in ancient Greek.

Which is actually kind of amazing, considering that I don't even speak Greek or any other language. English was trouble enough, I wasn't gonna try another language.

Dad, of course, didn't even ask about my grades when he got home, already excited about the trip and acting like an overgrown child as he packed up our bags in the little car that he bought a few years ago and we were in the car and heading out of the city, our sights on the open road and the hood of our convertible down and the wind blowing through our hair.

Like my dad, I have this wild, unmanageable dark hair that is impossible to get under control, even when I have it pulled back into a ponytail, like I usually do. Most of my features are from my mom and Dad says that I look a lot like her, but since I've never met her and don't even remember her, I don't really know if that's true. Whenever I ask about my mother, Dad just gets this odd expression on his face that is torn between apprehension and anxiety and says in a very strange voice that I will know about my mom only when it is time for me to know.

Like that's not at all annoying. Sometimes I think he just tells me that to aggravate me and if he is doing that, it's working. I'm twelve years old, almost a teenager. How long did he really expect me to buy the story that the stork dropped me on his doorstep?

"Dad, seriously," I said as we were driving to nowhere in particular, almost to our destination and nowhere near it. "I'm almost a teenager. When are you going to tell me the truth about who my mom was?"

My dad sighed, his expression changing. "Lily, we've talked about your mother before. And I told you, when it is time for you to know about her, then you will know. But not before."

"But why?" I complained, looking at him sideways. "Why do I have to be kept in the dark? Can't you tell me anything about her?"

He paused, considering slightly, his forehead creasing and he looked a lot older then, almost as if he really were an adult instead of the ageless child that he usually was.

"Your mom . . . well, she was beautiful," he said finally. "You won't believe how beautiful she was." His mouth twitched slightly, as though he were thinking something amusing. "She was the most dazzling woman that I had ever laid eyes on and I'd seen some pretty beautiful women before."

"Dad," I said, making a face. He chuckled.

"Sorry. But your mom, she . . . she put all of them to shame. And I've never met anybody who could compare to her, though her daughter comes pretty close," he said, giving me a grin. "You look so much like her, Lily. You have her eyes," he added, glancing at my wide, sky-blue eyes, so unlike his narrow, brown ones.

"We were only together for a short time, but we had that . . . that amazing summer together. I had never thought that I would feel the way about a woman the way that I felt about her. But then she had to go away and then, about nine months later, I find you on my doorstep, with a message from your mom telling me that you were my daughter."

"So she abandoned me?" I asked, feeling worse now and wishing that I hadn't pestered him. At least then I wouldn't know that she had walked away from me.

"No, she didn't abandon you," Dad said gently. "But she has a higher calling, a duty that none of us will ever understand. Lily, one day you will know who your mother is and when that happens, you will understand the need for secrecy. I know that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense now, but one day, it will, I promise."

"But when?" I pestered, looking back at him, my curiosity getting the better of me. "When will it make sense?"

Dad paused, his gaze going vacant as he stared ahead of him, considering his words very carefully. "I don't know, Lils. But I think it'll be sooner than you think," he said at last, which really, was no answer at all and just brought up more questions than answers.

"Where did you guys meet?" I asked.

His brown eyes sparkled suddenly at the . . . well, not a completely change of topic, but this seemed to be at least steering into safer waters.

"It was in this little town in California," he answered brightly, "they have this festival every year for artists, so I used to go there to do drawings for people, selling them for a buck apiece. Your mom was there," he said with a small smile. "She came right up to me and asked me if I could do her portrait, which I naturally agreed to. I know I'm gushing, Lily," he said, chuckling, "but she really was a sight. Picture the most beautiful woman in the world and you wouldn't be anywhere near what your mom looked like.

"So when I was done, I gave it to her and she was pleased by the work, looked absolutely thrilled by the piece, which I have to admit was some of my best work, but she just gave me this secretive smile and told me to keep it with me, maybe it would bring me luck.

"I didn't see her again for months, when she came back and . . . and I started falling for her. It was hard not to," he added dryly. "But eventually, she had to leave and I was left lonely and depressed for nine months, until you showed up. A little bundle of joy," he said, grinning.

"Where did she have to go?"

"Back to her home," Dad answered, his forehead creasing again. We were back in dangerous territory. "Back to . . . where she belonged, where she had to be at."

As annoyed as I was by the answers, I knew that my dad, who could be as cryptic as guys can be, would give me answers eventually. He would have told me if he really thought that I was ready for them, but the time for me to know wasn't yet.

"I know you want answers, Lily," he told me not unkindly. "And you have every right to know them, but the time isn't right. You'll only be in danger if you know the answers now. Believe me, this is for your own protection. Your mom warned me a long time ago that the answers will put you in danger."

"Danger? Danger from what?"

But my dad just pressed his lips together tightly and stared ahead of him, his face grim as he tightened his grip in the steering wheel. I sighed and looked out the window, towards the bright, sunny sky and leaning my head against it, wondering not for the first time who my mom really was and when I would find out the truth.

But before I could ponder on this too long, my gaze fastened on something else entirely, something in front of us and I shrieked. "Dad, look out!"

Dad let out a curse that he hasn't used in front of me in my twelve years, slamming on the breaks and doing some quick manoeuvring, spinning the steering wheel rapidly so that the car spun around, making tire tracks on the old road that we were on and making me almost want to vomit. Then he put his foot on the gas and we were driving back the same way that we had just come, but going twice as fast, breaking the speed limit ten times and I was gripping the seat tightly, glancing over the seat towards whatever it was that we were about to hit.

It was following us, I realised, and going a lot faster than anything that I had ever seen.

"Lily, hang on," Dad instructed, pressing his foot down even harder on the gas. It squealed in protest, but that didn't stop that . . . whatever that thing was. It just kept on speeding up, almost catching up with us, despite that we were almost past the speedometer's breaking point.

Without warning, Dad slammed his foot on the break. Note to everybody, wearing your seat belt actually does have some benefits, because it actually does prevent you from sailing through the windshield and I'm sure that if I hadn't been, then I would have been on the concrete road, with two busted teeth and a spilt lip. And that's assuming that I survived flying out a glass window. As it was, I still was flung forward and hit my head on the dash board, both from the sudden stop and from that thing hitting us from behind.

Dad looked over his shoulder towards it, then towards me. "Are you okay?" he asked urgently.

All I could do was nod, not even really aware of what was happening as Dad tried to turn the car back on, but all it would do was whine and groan, the engine spent. Dad had probably broken it from the driving, plus whatever had hit us from behind felt like it weighed a ton, so that probably didn't help.

Dad cussed again when he realised that the car wouldn't start and unbuckled his seat belt. "Get out of the car," he ordered.

There was no time for questions or whatnot, from his tone. I did as I was told, grabbing my bag from the front seat and scrambling out of the car as fast as I was able and Dad pushed me ahead as I heard a groan coming from behind the car.

"Run, now!" Dad ordered. "Do not look back." For the first time in my life, I actually heard true fear in his voice and I obeyed, running as fast as my legs would carry me. Where I was going, I had absolutely no idea, but all I really cared about was getting away from that thing, because I knew that it was either very dangerous or very deadly.

Or possible even both.

My legs were crying out in protest, not to mention, I'm pretty sure that I hit them when Dad slammed on the breaks, plus I'd never been good at track and field, so running for me wasn't the best way to get away.

And unfortunately, that thing that was following us was already recovering, which somehow scared me even more than the thing itself did. Dad had hit that thing pretty hard, so if it was already recovering, then what chance did we have at getting away?

My dad let out a harsh grunt and I turned to see him fall as the monster caught up with us. I can't even describe what it looked like, but it was definitely something that was ripped out of my nightmares, something that you would only see in fantasy novels and movies, something that was definitely nothing of the normal, everyday world.

And my dad was right upon him.

"Dad!" I yelled as the monster was right up on him, but Dad, already moving, was springing into action, striking the monster as hard as he could, but his blows failed to have any effect.

"Lily, run!" he ordered between blows, looking over at me, his brown eyes meeting my blue. I hesitated, torn between the instinct to flee and to stay and help my dad. "Lily, I am ordering you to run! Now!"

I couldn't move; my feet were frozen where they were, both due to fear and the inability to leave my dad to die. He was all that I had, the only parent that I had. How could I just leave him?

Refusing to leave him behind, I moved forward to help my dad when he flung out his hand to stop me, pushing me out of the way and leaving himself in harm's way to the monster, who used the opportunity to send him flying into an opposite tree.

"DAD!" I howled, scrambling to my feet, my eyes falling on his fallen form, lying motionless not too far away.

His wild, dark hair was falling all around him, his brown eyes were closed, and he was completely still. I couldn't even see him breathing and there was blood coming from somewhere, but from my position, I couldn't see where it was coming from.

A low grunt caught my attention and I realised that the monster was coming straight at me. I ducked and threw myself sideways, thankful that Dad had made me take gymnastics since I was a kid, because seven years of it was finally paying off.

I somersaulted over him, landing on the palms of my hands and pushing myself back up, landing easily on the ground before I turned around to face the monster, who was rearing up for another attack.

Somewhere in the chaos, I noticed something flicker behind me and I threw my glance over my shoulder to see something appear in a golden light, a form appearing right behind me. A quiver of arrows and a bow, the quiver made of ivory with golden symbols along the side of it.

Not thinking twice, I raced for the quiver, snatching the bow up and grabbing an arrow, sliding it into position, my fingers already knowing what it was going to do before I did.

The monster was already moving into attack as I pulled the arrow back, taking aim before I fired, hitting my mark. A howl escaped from the monster as he stumbled.

I didn't think twice; snatching up another arrow, I fired again, hitting him again with accuracy, this time managing to down him completely. Not taking any chances, I released a third arrow, hitting the monster in the head this time.

It didn't move and I took a tentative step forward, grabbing the quiver of arrows and sliding it over my back as I walked forward, circling around the monster and making sure that it actually was dead—though I don't know how I was supposed to tell—before I raced around him, heading straight for my dad, still lying motionless next to the tree.

"Dad?" I whispered anxiously, touching his shoulder, but he didn't reply, didn't even notice that I was there. "Dad, wake up! Come on, it's over, you have to wake up! Dad? Daddy?" I whispered, my mouth trembling as he refused to respond to my cries. "DAD!"

But even though my mind refused to process what was happening, I knew what had happened. Dad had never kept me waiting before, always risking everything whenever I needed help, dropped everything that he was doing just to make sure that I was okay. When I broke my arm during a gymnastics practice when I was eight, he had left the gallery when this big time agent was coming to see his work. He had always put me first, always, and if he wasn't responding to my cries, wasn't responding to my shaking, then the only explanation was that he was . . .

How long I just sat there next to my dad, begging him to wake up, I have no idea, but eventually I heard another car approaching and I tensed, my mind instantly flashing to the worst conclusion; that something else had come like that monster.

Instantly, I stood up, grabbing the bow and sliding another arrow into place, pointing it towards the new arrival, but the guy who climbed out—who walked sort of funny, like he had problems with his feet—held up his hands to stop me.

"It's okay," he said loudly. "I'm not gonna hurt you. My name's Eli. I'm here to help you."

AN: Okay, this is my first Percy Jackson story, so please be kind, but I have the next chapter all ready, so if I get four or five reviews by tonight, then I promise, I will update it tonight, so please review? Please?

Lady Dawson


	2. Welcome to Camp HalfBlood

**A Touch of Destiny**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Welcome to Camp Half-Blood

I didn't immediately lower my bow, but I did pull back the string slightly, not willing to lower my defences just yet. Instead, I kept my bow on him, studying Eli carefully as he came into full view.

He walked funny, as though he had problems with his legs, and he was a little bit on the short side, for a boy, anyway; he still stood a few inches taller than me. His brown hair was straggly and he had a small beard already, though he was only a few years older than I was. Most of his hair was stuffed underneath his hat.

"It's okay," he said again when I didn't lower my bow, keeping it on him, "I know you're scared right now and I know that this is all really confusing, but it's gonna be okay. I'm here to help you; I promise I will not hurt you."

His brown eyes seemed kind and something in them told me that I could trust him. Taking a deep breath, I slowly lowered my bow, returning the arrow back to my quiver, though I kept my bow in my hand in case I needed it. I didn't know how that quiver and bow had appeared there like that, but apparently, I had some higher power watching out for me, because it had appeared right when I had needed it.

"Attagirl," Eli said, giving me a smile. "It's all right. It's gonna be okay. What's your name?"

"Lilyana," I answered carefully, "Lily Sawyer."

"Lily Sawyer," he repeated. Somehow, the way that he said my name made it sound different, as though it were the name of a queen or a high priestess or a warrior. Someone of great importance. "My name is Eli and I'm a friend. But we have to get out of here, okay? We have to get somewhere safe. I can get you there, but you're going to have to trust me."

"But who are you?" I asked, my mind spinning from everything that had happened.

"I'm a friend," he said anxiously. "I'm from a camp not too far away from here, for people like you. I will explain everything to you once we get there, but right now, we have to go."

I hesitated, then glanced towards the dead monster, trembling slightly, looking back at Eli. "Are there . . . are there more . . . like him?" I asked, managing to put my thought into a stumbled order.

He nodded earnestly as he glanced towards the monster. "Yes, there are a lot more and they are gonna come after you. They can smell your blood," he explained, which didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Suddenly, I remembered what my dad had said about my mom and how if I knew more about her, then I would constantly be in danger. Was this the kind of danger that he had been talking about? I thought wildly before glancing at my dad, my fallen father, with an ache in my chest. I would never have the chance to find out.

Closing my eyes against the tears that were threatening to expel themselves from there, I looked back at Eli. "Does . . . does this have anything to do with my mom?"

He nodded. "Yes . . . a lot, actually."

My breath quavered, but I nodded, looking back at my dad. "What about my dad?" I whispered, my voice trembling as I spoke. It barely even sounded like me; it was so high and shrill, not at all how my voice sounded like. "I can't just leave him here."

Eli nodded understandingly. "I promise, we're gonna take care of it. The paramedics will be here shortly and they will take care of him, but do you really want to explain what happened here?"

No, I immediately thought, I really didn't. There was no way that I could explain what had happened here. I didn't want to explain about the wrecked car and the monster and how it had been killed—I wasn't even sure how I was able to kill it. I'd never even shot a bow and arrow before; how was I even able to use it so proficiently?

"Okay," I finally whispered, nodding miserably. Eli let out a low breath, filled with relief, and gestured me towards the car. I took one last look at my dad as I headed towards Eli's car, climbing into the passenger's seat.

It felt wrong, oh so wrong to leave my dad there, lying bloody and lifeless on the road, right next to a crime scene, but there wasn't really much of a choice. Dad told me once that if anything ever did happen to him, then my mom would send me help. She would know what had happened and she would help me; she would send people to help me.

And I had a feeling in my gut that this was what my dad had meant; Eli was sent by my mother to aid me in my time of need.

Saying one last goodbye to my dad, I climbed into the passenger's seat, strapping on the seatbelt as I heard sirens in the distance, as though someone nearby had heard the accident and had called an ambulance.

Eli sent me a truly sympathetic look before he turned on the ignition, speeding away from the crime scene. I refused to look back, refused to turn back towards where my father was, because I knew that if I took one look back, if I so much as turned around, then that would be the last of my resolve and I would jump out of the moving car and run back to him, refusing to go with Eli and stay with my dad, no matter the danger, even though every instinct in me was telling me that I needed to go with him.

With my gaze attached firmly ahead of me, tears radiating in my eyes, I was taking the firs steps that would lead me to my destiny.

But I had absolutely no idea what that destiny was. All I knew was that my whole world had changed.

My dad was dead . . . monsters were real . . . one of them had attacked us and had killed my dad right in front of me . . . and then someone had sent me a bow and arrow that I had used to kill the monster . . . and now, I was trusting a complete stranger to take me to safety and I had absolutely no idea where I was gone.

Yeah, the only thing that I was completely sure about was that everything had changed.

--

Every minute that passed by felt like an eternity and every minute the passed by, I felt like something was going to appear out of nowhere and attack us. Eli didn't seem any calmer; his brown eyes kept darting everywhere as he drove, never relaxed, never calm for a second.

Well, he had to be a great deal calmer than I was. All I could think about was seeing my dad like that, lying motionless on the ground.

My dad was dead; he was just gone. I never thought that he could actually be gone. I mean, this was my dad I was talking about, this was Charlie Sawyer, who was so full of life and never slowed down, even for a second, a restless free spirit who was always looking towards the horizon, seeking adventure and excitement with every step. How could he be gone?

It was almost midnight when we reached wherever it was that we were going. A camp, Eli said that it was some sort of camp. But why would he take me here? Why did my mother want me to come to a camp? She had never been involved in my life, so why did she care about what I did during the summer?

But at the moment, I didn't feel like asking many questions. I just pulled my bag onto my shoulder as I followed Eli up the hill, past a giant pine tree and a sleeping dragon. But my eyes travelled beyond that and my eyes widened with surprise and disbelief, astonished by the sights that met my eyes, sights that I never would have expected.

At the very bottom of the hill, there was a blue house, standing taller than all of the rest of the camp. There was an amphitheatre, a climbing wall, an arena, cabins in every colour, shape and form, and several other buildings. There was a volleyball court, stables, and a farm that smelled like strawberries, if the smell that carried was any hint.

I could barely even believe my eyes and I actually raised my hands to my eyes and rubbed them before opening them again, making sure that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

Eli chuckled at my reaction and spread his arms open wide. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," he said, smiling at me. "Come on, we'll go to the Big House and talk to Chiron."

"Who's—" I began, but decided that, upon reflection, just to wait. I was sure I would find out shortly.

And I was right.

Leading me up to the house that was painted blue—which had to be the Big House, I guessed—Eli opened up the door and gestured for me to follow him inside, where I could hear voices talking inside and as I entered, I saw two figures talking. One of them was a guy appearing to be around my own age, tall and handsome, slightly muscular with sandy blond hair and intense grey eyes. The other was a centaur.

I'm not joking. There was an actual, real-live centaur standing not ten feet in front of me as I followed Eli into the room, my mouth actually falling open in an unladylike manner, but I was too stunned to actually care.

"Chiron," Eli said and the centaur turned around to face us, smiling pleasantly at me with a hint of amusement in his brown eyes as he noticed my astonished expression.

"Eli," he said, nodding towards the guy next to me. "I was wondering when you were going to get back. But I see that you haven't come back empty-handed. Hello, my dear," he said kindly to me. "I'm Chiron, Activities Director here at Camp Half-Blood. Welcome."

"Uh . . . thanks," I said awkwardly, trying to figure out if this was just some bizarre dream that I was having and believe me, I really thought that it was possible, because I've had some bizarre dreams before. "I'm Lily . . . Lily Sawyer."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sawyer," he said kindly. He looked at Eli. "Have you told her?"

Eli shook his head. "No, I found here a little way away from here, under attack with her dad," he said quietly, remorse in his voice and a hint of guilt. He met Chiron's eyes and there was some sort of understanding that passed through them and Chiron turned to the unknown guy in the room.

"Stefan," he said, "I think that we're going to have to pick this up tomorrow."

"Sure," Stefan said, shrugging. "No problem. I should probably get back to my cabin, anyway." His grey eyes met my blue ones and I felt my cheeks flaming slightly as he grinned at me before he walked out of the house, shutting the door behind him.

"Come with me, Miss Sawyer," Chiron said gently, gesturing for me to follow him and, with a quick glance towards Eli, who gave me an encouraging nod, I did as I was told, following the centaur into another room.

He gestured for me to sit down, which I did, though with much reluctance. This whole day had been crazy and strange and I didn't want to talk; all I wanted to do was crawl into a bed and cry myself to sleep. The only coherent thought in my head was that my dad was dead.

"What do you know about your parents?" Chiron asked me once I was sitting down.

The question startled me. "Uh . . . my dad's an artist, I live with him in New York," I said, a pain shooting through me. I _lived_ with him in New York. That was over now. For a second, I wondered where I would go. Probably get sent to a foster home. It wasn't like Dad had any relatives. At least, none that he talked to. "I've never my mother, but Dad always said that one day, I'd know who she was and why it had to be a secret."

Chiron nodded gently. "Your father had reasons for keeping the truth about your mother hidden, Lily," he told me. "There is no easy way to explain this to you, so I'm just going to say it." He took a deep breath. "Lily, you are a demigod."

For a minute, I didn't hear him clearly, then what he said slowly began to make sense and I shook my head in complete confusion. "Demigod?" I repeated slowly and he nodded, watching my expression carefully. "As in . . . as in the offspring of an immortal god or goddess and a mortal?"

He seemed pleased that I knew that much. "Yes, that summarises it exactly," he said, smiling. "We don't know who your mother is, but I'm sure that she will claim you soon."

"So . . . I'm the daughter . . . of a goddess?" I said, trying to get my head around this. "Like the Greek gods, Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite? They actually exist?"

I had always liked learning about the Greek gods; they had always been so fascinating to me and even though my dyslexia made it extremely difficult, I had read anything that I could on the subject and watched every single movie and TV show having to do with them. My dad had laughed at my obsession, but on my birthday, he had bought me the entire series of Xena: Warrior Princess.

Chiron nodded, impressed. "Yes, they do. Camp Half-Blood is a sanctuary for all of the children of the gods and offer training, to help you defend yourselves against the monsters outside of these walls. This is the only safe place for demigods. No monster can enter unless they are invited."

"But why is it here in America?" I asked. "Shouldn't this camp be in Greece?"

"The gods move with the height of western civilisation. They are half of the reason why it is so prosperous. Back then, Greece was the height of western civilisation. Now, however, it is in America, so they live here. On top of the Empire State Building, actually."

"You're kidding," I said, bewildered. How could Mount Olympus be on top of the Empire State Building? "But . . . how do you know that I'm a demigod?"

"The monster wouldn't have attacked you unless you were one. They can smell the blood of a demigod profoundly, especially if you're a powerful force. If you were one of the children of the Big Three, then they would be especially attracted to your blood."

"The Big Three? You mean Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades?" I asked, remembering what I had read about them. The three powerful brothers, sons of the Titan King.

"Correct," Chiron beamed. "Forgive me, but do you happen to struggle with dyslexia? Perhaps ADHD?"

I felt my stomach clench as he asked and I slowly nodded, an idea forming in my head. "How do you know . . .?"

"That's another mark that you are a half-blood," he explained. "For demigods, your natural language is ancient Greek, not English. As for the ADHD, you have quick reflexes that allow you to excel on the battlefield, but make it difficult for you to adapt to the slowness of normal life, make it difficult to sit still in a classroom."

That kind of made sense, so I just nodded, my mind adapting to the idea that my mother was one of the Olympian gods. I was the daughter of a goddess, a demigod. Well, this certainly didn't happen every day.

Seeming to notice how late it was getting, Chiron looked around at Eli, who had been standing behind us, completely quiet while we were talking. "Now, it's getting late and I think that you could use some rest," he said kindly. "If you don't mind, Eli, could you please take her to Cabin 11?"

"No problem," Eli said, gesturing for me to follow him.

"And Lily," Chiron added. I turned back to look at him and noticed his extremely saddened expression. "I am very sorry about your father."

The heaviness that seemed to be pressing down on my chest seemed to multiply and I nodded mutely, not trusting myself to talk, before following Eli out of the Big House.

Eli must have realised that I didn't want to talk, because he seemed to realise that I didn't particularly want to talk, because he didn't say a word as we left and headed towards the smaller cabins across the way.

"So . . . what exactly are you?" I finally asked, glancing at him. "Are you a demigod?"

Letting out a laugh that sounded like a goat, Eli shook his head, a grin spreading across his face. "No, I'm not," he said, still laughing that strange laugh. "I'm not a half-blood. I'm a satyr."

"A . . . what?" I asked, incredulous.

"A satyr," he said, shrugging, looking down at his feet, then back up at me. I looked down and noticed that—while he was wearing pants—he had no shoes on and his feet, instead of feet, they ended in cloven hooves.

I realised that I was staring and yanked my eyes away from him. "This is insane," I muttered.

"Yeah, I know," Eli said sympathetically. "Most kids here feel that way in the beginning, but it'll get better. You'll get used to everything, in the end." He sounded so sure of himself that I almost believed him, but I wasn't sure how I was going to get over losing my dad. It just seemed too surreal and I hoped that, when I woke up tomorrow, that I would be in my own bed.

Eli led me through the quiet camp. It was well past midnight, so everybody was asleep. Well, almost everybody. There were still a few people that were up and about.

When we reached cabin 11, Eli opened the door and I stepped through uncertainly, taking a look around the sleeping cabin. It was crowded and almost every single bunk was full. There was only a single girl awake, who was looking through a book as she lay on her stomach, but she looked up the moment that we entered.

"Eli," she said softly, gesturing him over. "What's going on?"

"New camper," he explained, nodding towards me. "Lily Sawyer, meet Alexia Ryder, daughter of Hermes."

"Regular or undetermined?" Alexia asked, looking me up and down for a long minute.

"Undetermined," Eli answered, though I didn't know what she meant by that at first. Then I got it; they didn't know who my mother was and until she sent a sign, as Chiron had called it, I would be staying here.

Alexia sighed as she stood, motioning me to follow her through the crowded cabin, finding me a bunk through the sleeping campers. "Here, this one's empty." She kept her voice low as she smiled. "Welcome to cabin 11."

"Thanks," I said. She nodded as she walked back towards her own bunk and I crawled into my bunk, placing my bag underneath my bunk as I pulled the blankets around me tightly.

Within moments, I was asleep.


	3. The Next Morning

**A Touch of Destiny**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: The Next Morning

When I woke up the next morning, I kept my eyes closed tightly, waiting for my dad to come and wake me up. Yesterday did _not_ happen, I convinced myself. It was just a dream. Dad wasn't killed by some monster and I wasn't the daughter of one of the Olympian gods. That was just some wacky dream caused by eating too many sweets before bed. That's all that it was. I would open my eyes and I would be in my own room, in my own bed, and Dad would be in the kitchen, attempting to salvage breakfast.

Slowly, I cracked open my eyes, peering at the sight around me, only to find that I was looking around an unfamiliar cabin, with lots of other kids were chattering and getting ready. I pushed off my blankets, my blue eyes flickering around me as I slowly stood up, pushing my sheets off of me and sliding out of my bunk, my heart aching with every step as I headed towards the girls' bathroom that I'd spotted the night before.

I didn't really have any extra change of clothes, since I hadn't thought to grab my suitcase out of the car yesterday, so I had to just wear the same clothes that I'd worn yesterday, though I tried to shake them out a little bit to tidy them up.

Alexia was directing people to line up when I got back to the cabin and she turned around to face me with a smile. "Lily, there you are. Everybody, this is Lily Sawyer," she called, pulling me towards the line. "Undetermined, she just got here last night." A few people groaned at the undetermined part and she gave the boys a sharp look. "Now, I am sure that everybody is going to make her feel at home here, now won't we?" she asked, giving a few of them a piercing stare, causing them to roll their eyes.

"By the way, Lily," she added as she motioned for me to follow her, "Chiron brought your things earlier. I put them over by your bunk, if you want to change."

I let out a sigh of relief, not particularly wanting to go to breakfast wearing the same clothes that I'd been wearing for over twenty-four hours. "Thank you," I said gratefully. She gestured for me to hurry up and I hastily grabbed a few items from my suitcase, my hand brushing against something very hard and cold.

Tugging on it, I found my necklace lying in between a couple of shirts. I'd forgotten that I had put it there. Gripping the gold locket tightly, I remembered when my dad had given this to me. I was probably eight or nine and I had brought home an excellent grade from art class, the only class that I ever excelled in. He had given it to me as a reward for it.

And now, it was all that I had left of him.

Realising that a few of the other campers were looking at me, I brushed away my tears impatiently, grabbing the fresh clothes as I headed back to the girls' room, throwing them on quickly before I stared down at the locket, slowly clasping it around my neck, laying it lay flat over my chest.

By the time that I had come back, everybody was ready to go, so I fell in line with the rest of the Hermes cabin, following them to the mess hall, joining the crowded table and eating breakfast.

It wasn't that everybody else was being unfriendly, but I had never been very good at making friends, what with people thinking that I'm stuck-up and everything, so I kind of sat a little off by myself, not talking to anybody, but they were busy talking to their own friends, so I don't think that anybody really noticed.

After breakfast, everybody kind of went their separate ways on various activities. Unsure of what I should do, I headed out of the mess hall, intent on exploring and getting to know the place when I felt someone touch my shoulder.

Automatically, I swung, hitting the guy right behind me straight in the jaw and he stumbled back, his hand going straight for his jaw and he let out something that sounded like a curse, but it was in Greek. Or I'm pretty sure that it was Greek. It sounded like it, anyway.

"Ow!" he complained, rubbing his jaw tentatively and my hand went to cover my mouth automatically, wincing slightly. He gave me a half-glare, but I could tell that he wasn't really angry, because he was grinning somewhat. "Remind me never to sneak up on you in the middle of a dark alley."

"Sorry," I said, averting my gaze from him and staring down at my shoes, but he only laughed.

"Don't worry about it. You hit pretty good, for a girl," he said teasingly. My eyes moved upwards and I recognised him automatically from the night before, the camper that had been in the Big House when I had arrived. "You're Lily, right?"

"Yeah, you're . . . Steven?" I asked, searching my memory for the right name and while it sounded close, it didn't sound quite right.

"Stefan," he corrected. "You were close. I'm Stefan Dalloway, son of Athena." He smiled good-naturedly, my punch already forgotten as he stuck out his hand and I accepted it shyly, tucking a strand of dark hair behind my ear. "Chiron asked me if I could show you around today. Since you're the new girl and all."

"I can take care of myself."

He smiled. "Clearly," he said. "But I could still show you around, show you the archery court and where we practice with swords and stuff. And we could check out the lake and the stables, if you want. Come on, Lils," he said, putting on a begging face. "It's not every day that I get to show a pretty camper around."

My face heated up at the compliment and my blue eyes met his grey ones, but it was his use of my dad's pet name for me that conquered my protests more than the compliment. No one other than my dad ever called me Lils and somehow, rather than it being painful, it felt nice to hear that name again. As thought everything was going to be okay, despite that my whole world had turned upside down.

"Okay," I said at last. Stefan grinned triumphantly and led me out of the mess hall, showing me all the sights of the camp. The smell of strawberries, which I had picked up last night, was coming from a field full of them, which was the cover for curious mortals who were poking their noses where they didn't belong.

"So where'd you get the bow and arrows?" he asked me while we were passing by the stables, which contained real live winged horses. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw them, but I was starting to think that everything was real, fairy tales and horror stories and myths were all really true.

"I don't know, exactly," I answered, glancing at the quiver that was strapped across my back as he inclined his head towards it. "Last night, when we—my dad and I—were under attack by this monster, it just sort of appeared in these golden lights and there it was, just waiting for me. And I snatched it up and shot the monster with it."

"Your dad was mortal?" Stefan asked to clarify and I nodded, still wondering who my mom was and if she was going to tell me soon. I hoped that she would; it would be nice to know who my mother was. "Then it was probably a gift from your mom. Sometimes our Olympian parents send their demigod children gifts, things that will be helpful when they're in the world, fighting against the monsters and saving the world and stuff. See this?" he asked, pulling out a sword and handing it to me.

It was a well-balanced sword and even though it felt wrong in my hands, I could tell that it was almost made for Stefan and would fit into his slightly larger hands easily, making it a perfect match for the taller, muscular teenager. The blade was light, but sturdy and was the perfect weight for him.

"This was a gift from my mom," Stefan told me when I handed it back to him. "She gave it to me my last year, when I was up against a Wendigo. The sword that I had broke in two and she sent that to me when I needed it the most. Good thing too," he added lightly, replacing the sword into his sheath. "I like this one better, anyway."

"You said that your mom was Athena, didn't you?" I asked slowly. "But didn't she swear she would never marry or something?"

Stefan nodded, looking impressed. "You know your mythology well," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets as we headed across the grounds. "Do you happen to know how my mom was born?" I shook my head, trying to remember that part of Athena. "Well, she was born from Zeus's head, in full battle armour, born from intellectual thought. And her sons and daughters are born the same way, gifts on the men that she favours. They're usually pretty brainy guys," he added with a grin. "My dad lectures on history at this museum in South Dakota."

"Cool," I said, impressed. "My dad's an artist; he pretty much travelled everywhere up until I was about five, when it was time for me to go to school, and then he settled down in New York, getting a job at an art gallery. But he still works on his own stuff. Or . . . I mean, he did," I said quietly, my thoughts drifting towards my father.

"I'm sorry," Stefan said softly. I lifted my head back towards him and saw that he looked truly remorseful, as though he actually meant his words. Not many people that I talked to actually meant what they said to me. Usually, they didn't care less if they hurt my feelings or not. "If it helps . . . I got my dad into trouble lots of times with monsters on my tail. That thing with the Wendigo? That was a really close shave. As it was, Dad ended up in the hospital for about a week." He watched my expression carefully. "It wasn't your fault, Lily. You didn't do anything wrong. Monsters . . . our blood just attracts them. You couldn't help it and it's not like you knew anything about this."

"Why couldn't Dad have told me about this?" I said miserably. "Why didn't he tell me about my mom? It's not like I wouldn't have believed him and it would at least have given me a good explanation as to why she was never there."

"Chiron didn't tell you?" Stefan asked, surprised. I searched my memory of last night, trying to remember, but shook my head. If he told me anything about that, then I didn't remember, but it wasn't like I didn't have a good excuse. Yesterday was a memory overload. "You see, the blood of a demigod is exceptionally attractive to monster. But once we know the truth about what we are, the scent is even stronger. By keeping you in the dark, your dad was providing the ultimate protection. So long as you were in the dark about who you were, it was harder for them to find you. Some parents even go so far as to marry scumbags because there's some mortals whose smell is so repulsive that it'll cover up the smell of a demigod."

"Hmm. . . . Yeah, I guess that's true," I said slowly. The apartment that we lived at wasn't exactly in a nice neighbourhood and the neighbours weren't exactly guys who bathed too often. Maybe my dad actually had good reason for having us live there.

Stefan led me towards the archery practice, where there were already archers training, their bows drawn back and when another camp made the call, they released the arrows, they implanted themselves in the targets, set several yards away.

"Wow," I said, impressed. Nearly all of them had mad a perfect bull's eye. "They're pretty good."

"Shoot, kid, that's nothing," Stefan joked. "You should see the advanced archery classes, for when you've been here for a few years and when you've gotten _really_ good at archery. Now, that is something to see," he said, grinning. He noticed my anticipation. "Did you want to give it a try?"

"Well . . ." My fingers twitched in eagerness and I realised that I actually did want to try archery again. I'd done pretty well last night. "Yeah."

"All right," Stefan said, grinning as he motioned for me to follow him, behind the line of archers so we didn't accidentally get in the way, heading towards an older camper that was calling drills, a pretty short guy of sixteen with red hair. "Hey, Brandon. Lily, this is Brandon Thomas, son of Apollo. Brandon, Lily," he introduced us.

"Hey, there," Brandon said, giving me a nod and a grin. "So you're the new girl. Heard you got here." He blew the whistle again and the archers released their arrows. "Pretty nice equipment that you got there," he said, nodding towards my bow and arrow. "Did you want to try it out?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind," I said, watching the archery session with glowing eyes. "It looks cool."

Brandon laughed, glancing at Stefan, a teasing glint in his eyes. "Girl knows a good weapon when she sees one," he said, jesting. Stefan made a face at the older camper, folding his arms across his chest. "All right, I'll have them set up another target really fast."

It didn't take them long to get another target for me to use and when they were all set up, I took my place next to the other campers, waiting for the signal as I pulled my arrow back, taking careful aim at the target. The whistle blew and I released the arrow, letting it fly.

The arrow flew wide, hitting the outer rim of the target area. I groaned slightly, frowning at it, trying to remember how I had done it yesterday. How had I managed to hit that monster directly?

Probably an adrenaline rush, but I was determined to hit the bull's eye. Pulling another arrow out, I took careful aim, keeping both eyes wide open and when the signal blew, I released it.

It flew through the arrow, circling slowly as it flew, and hit the target dead centre, wobbling slightly as it hit. I grinned triumphantly, grabbing another arrow and released it at the signal, making another perfect mark. Time after time, I continued to make perfect marks, but I noticed that while I wasn't running out of arrows, everyone else was. Probably an added bonus feature of my mom's gift to me, I thought in interest. No matter how many arrows I used, I would never run out.

Brandon walked up the line, inspecting the arrows in the targets. "Good job as usual, Alice," he said, nodding as he passed a blonde girl. "Keep practicing, Jeremy. Nancy, not bad. You've gotten better since the last time." He walked up the line, offering advice to some of them and complimenting a few of the others as he made his way to me.

His jaw actually dropped open as he saw my target, all of the arrows save for the first one making it dead centre. "Wow," he said, clearly impressed. "Have you ever handled a bow before?" He stared at the target in amazement as I shook my head. "Not bad, not bad at all. That's . . . very good. Good work, Lily," he told me before looking around at everybody. "Okay, I think that it's just about lunchtime, so everybody should pack up and head to the mess hall. Good job, everybody, really nice work. I can tell you've been practicing."

"Not bad," Stefan commented as he came from where he had been watching on the fence to stand beside me, surveying the arrows. "You're a pretty good shot."

I smiled. "For a girl, you mean?"

Stefan grinned back. "Nah. Pretty good shot for anybody, actually. Come on, I think there's hamburgers on the menu today."

After lunch—which we had to split up for, because he had to sit with all of his siblings at the Athena table—Stefan took me to where they were doing sword training, but I wasn't very good at it. Actually, I was pretty bad at sword duelling. When I got back to the Hermes cabin later, I had welts on my arms and on my side, plus the sword that they gave me was pretty heavy and didn't feel at all right in my hand, but Stefan promised to help me find a better one later, one that was more suited to me.

I liked hanging out with Stefan. He was a really nice guy and wasn't big and meaty like some of the guys that I knew back at my school in New York. I mean, he was pretty tall and muscular, but it wasn't profound. And anyway, he was really nice, a lot nicer than most people that I knew, but then again, most of the people here at the camp were nicer than people I knew.

At dinner, we made offerings to the gods by scraping off some of the food off of our plates and sending it into a fire pit. It smelled pretty good as I made my way through the line, tossing a piece of my chicken into it and sending a silent prayer to my mother.

_Please, Mom, whoever you are, send me a sign, _I thought desperately and pleadingly, _whoever you are, please just send me a sign. I want to know. I _need_ to know. _

**AN:** Okay, guys, I know that this story if just starting out, but I am severely disappointed by the lack of reviews on the last chapters. I mean, I would have been happy just to have **one** review. Now, I am begging you to please review both this chapter and Chapter Two, because I am going out of my mind here. Please, please, please?

Please?

Lady Dawson


	4. First Battle

**A Touch of Destiny**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Four: First Battle

The next few days were some of the happiest of my life and some of the miserable. I was happy because I was finally somewhere where I belonged, somewhere with others that were just like me, and I liked Camp Half-Blood. It was amazing and I liked learning how to use weapons that nobody used anymore. Granted, I was still horrible at using a sword and was proving to be hopeless at it and hand-to-hand combat wasn't exactly my forte, but archery I was really good at.

Stefan kept his promise and helped me find a better sword for me, but I was still pretty bad at sword fighting. My new sword was light and straight, fitting easily into my hand. It was easier to use this sword and I was a little bit better with this one, but even then, I wasn't very skilled.

And the reason why I was so miserable? Well, I think you can pretty much guess why. I felt guilty about being happy when my dad was gone and the fact that my dad was gone meant that I no longer had a home outside of this camp. I knew Dad would want me to be happy, but he had been gone for less than a week. It felt like I was betraying his memory somehow.

Mom still remained a mystery to me, not even bothering to send me a sign to tell me who she was, but maybe she was waiting for something. I didn't want to think that she wasn't sending me a sign because she simply didn't care. That couldn't be it.

But other than that, I was having the time of my life. Stefan, who was proficient in ancient Greek, tutored me during our free time, helping me to learn the language that was supposed to be my natural language, but while I could understand it somewhat, it was just as hard as English was.

But it wasn't until Friday, when we had a game of Capture the Flag, that anything out of the ordinary—I _know_ how strange that sounds, but what I mean is out of the ordinary for camp—happened. I wasn't sure exactly what to do, so I stuck close to Stefan, who had been here for a few years, as the teams were split up. Thankfully, the Athena team was sided with the Hermes one, so he kept me under his wing.

"Keep a close watch out for the Ares campers," he warned me, but I didn't need the warning. All of them were big and mean-looking. One guy in particular looked like he had just hopped off of a biker gang before he came here, complete with tattoos and piercings, some of them in places that made me shudder, wondering why he would put himself through that torture to begin with. "They're the best fighters, but they don't have much in the way of brains."

"In other words, keep my wits and use it against them?" I suggested. Stefan grinned.

"Exactly," he said, nodding. "You stay with Caroline on defence. Don't let anybody get to that flag," he warned me, nodding towards the blue flag that Caroline, one of his sisters, was guarding with about five others. "Don't worry, she'll look after you."

I did as I was told, seeing as I wasn't sure what exactly I was supposed to do, and kept my bow and arrow at the ready, waiting for the red team to come anywhere near us.

To be honest, I was really hoping that I wasn't going to have to get into a fight. For one, I wasn't anywhere near ready for a fight . . . well, not to the death, since Chiron said that deliberately injuring somebody was against the rules, but definitely not ready for any kind of battle, even if it was just pretend, just training. And for another . . . those Ares kids were really big and really scary.

Unfortunately, wishes were definitely not horses today, because a bunch of the Ares campers came plunging out of nowhere, as it they had heard my hopes and decided that they wanted to smash them then and now by coming straight for us.

"Swordsmen, to the front!" Caroline yelled. "Archers, at the ready!" she shouted to all of us that had bows.

The swordsmen and women moved to the front to shield the archers from and upcoming attack while we pulled our arrows back, finding a target and releasing them, being careful not to hit anyone in any critical areas that would only suffice in killing them. I managed to down one of them, but another of the Ares campers, a big girl with a lot of muscle, singled me out and launched a full out attack at me, though Valentine from the Aphrodite cabin tried to block her, but Valentine wasn't much of a fighter. Like the rest of her cabin, she was very beautiful and good on the gossip and stuff, but she wasn't a fighter, again, like the rest of her cabin.

I ducked underneath the girl's sword, using my bow to hit her in the face, managing to make a direct hit. She hissed at me, looking very annoyed as I jumped backwards, springing off of my hands and landing on my feet a few feet away, grasping an arrow and pointing it directly at the girl—Nichole, I think her name was—who sneered.

"Pretty good at that bow," she said offhandedly as she circled around me. "Personally, I think that anybody who prefers archery is just a coward. Not good enough to get right into the fight, preferring to just stay as far away from it as possible, staying a good safe distance away. Isn't that right, new girl?" she taunted me. "You don't much like using that sword, do you?"

I'll admit it; I was pretty peeved. "What's it matter what kind of weapon I like?" I snapped. "I'm perfectly capable of fighting with a sword."

"Prove it," she countered, moving in and I automatically took a step back. "Scared of me, aren't you, new girl? Come on," she said invitingly. "Let's see what you're made of."

My temper got the better of me and I shoved my bow and arrow back into my quiver, pulling out the sword that Stefan had gotten for me, holding it defensively in front of me, my mind working through all of the training that Stefan had gone through, trying everything and anything that I could think of to stay alive, because at that moment, this didn't feel like training; it actually felt like a fight to the death.

There was clashing of swords all around me and Nichole as we circled around each other. I could hear them, but I kept my gaze on her, not willing to remove my gaze from her. My heart was pounding in my chest in fear, but I refused to let it show on my face, keeping it still and impassive as we moved in a circle.

You know how in movies, when two characters are about to face off, you hear that foreboding music in the background, warning you that something bad is gonna happen? Well, I could have sworn that I heard something like that as Nichole and I were getting ready to fight.

She made the first move. Letting out a battle cry that would have made a lion proud, she lunged forward, shoving her sword straight at me. I moved, pushing my own in between us to prevent myself from getting slashed and moving as fast as I could, using the old gymnastics techniques to get out of the way as soon as I could and leap to avoid her sword.

There was no way that I was going to defeat her in battle. Nichole was the daughter of the god of war. I had no idea who I was, but I was no good at sword fighting. This was going to end very badly for me, possibly ending up with my in a hospital bed for six months. Three, tops.

"Stop jumping around, you little freak!" she shrieked, her brown eyes dangerous as she slashed at my arm that was holding my sword. I let out a sharp cry as I dropped it, gripping my arm that was now bleeding before glancing around for my sword, laying a few feet away.

Now that I was disarmed, Nichole moved fast to kick my leg, sending a sharp pain through it. She might not be all that smart, but she made up for that in strength.

Smart . . .

What was it that Stefan had told me? I thought frantically, trying to remember our conversation before the game had started.

_"They're the best fighters, but they don't have much in the way of brains." _

I glanced up just before Nichole slashed me through the ribs, moving sideways and flipping twice, somersaulting over her and landing on my feet, running for my sword, but it was conveniently stuck between two rocks and I couldn't pull it out. Looking around at Nichole, I desperately tried to come up with a plan and fast.

"It looks like I win this round," Nichole said, grinning as I snatched my bow out of my hand, an idea forming in my mind as I studied her attack position and the way she had parried earlier. As she lunged for me, I made my decision, moving sideways as she thrust her sword through my bow and I used it to knock the sword out of her hand and kicked her backwards; she stumbled and fell backwards as her sword sailed through the air and I caught it with my left hand.

I heard a few gasps of surprise coming from around me, but I didn't turn around to look at the other campers as I pointed the sword at Nichole. Her brown eyes were wide with shock and a mixture of fear and disbelief, her mouth open and outraged, but she didn't move.

"Get up," I told her, my breath heavier than usual. The battle had taken more out of me than I had expected, but I hadn't realised until that moment that the game was over. Stefan, along with one of his brothers and a couple Apollo campers, had snuck around the line and had captured the red flag while Nichole and I were battling and almost everybody had crowded around us to watch the fight, curious as to how it would play out.

I don't think that Nichole was going to like me very much after this, I thought tiredly as I tossed her sword onto the ground next to her. Her siblings looked like they were going to give her a lot of grief about getting her butt kicked by a girl who was at least two years younger than she was and half her size.

Actually, that wasn't the only thing that they were going to tease her mercilessly about, because something happened just as I moved through the crowd and managed to pry my sword from between the rocks.

Just as I managed to pry it loose, I heard another gasp and looked around for the source of the noise, which was one of the Hermes campers named Clara. She wasn't the only one who was staring at me, though; everybody was . . . staring at something above my head and I looked up for the source of the disturbance.

Floating above my head, rotating in a perfect circle was a pink dove, circling perfectly directly above me. I didn't know what was happening at first, until someone called, "She's been claimed!"

"Daughter of Aphrodite," Alexia said, clearly looking astonished. I didn't really blame her; that was probably the last thing that anybody expected, because none of the Aphrodite campers were really good fighters.

I was speechless and my gaze was completely fastened on the pink dove that was still radiating above me, but was slowly beginning to vanish until there was nothing left and I was left standing there with the entire camp staring at me until Valentine, the counsellor for the Aphrodite cabin, came up with a broad smile on her face, clasping my shoulders tightly and beaming at me.

"We have a new little sister!" she said, her smile so wide that it was almost contagious. The rest of the Aphrodite campers—my brothers and my sisters, I realised with a jolt—all cheered as they swarmed around me, all of them eager to pull me towards their cabin.

Overwhelmed by their overzealousness, I spotted Stefan through the crowd, standing by the red flag and holding it with an amused look on his face as he was watching me, grinning wildly.

_"Help!" _I mouthed at him, but he just grinned even more wildly as I was pulled towards my new cabin.

The next couple of hours was made up of Valentine showing me where I could put all of my stuff—my suitcase was brought a few hours later by Eli, who congratulated me on being claimed—and where my new bunk was. Like everything else, the blankets were a bright, vivid pink and were shiny and sparkly. There were frills and bows everywhere and I almost gagged at the massive amount of perfume that filtered through the air.

Instead, I just thanked Valentine as I pushed my suitcase under my bunk, hanging my bow and arrows on the head of my bunk. A few of my sisters kept trying to pull me into the girls' bathroom and give me a makeover, but I managed to elude them several times before dinner was called.

It wasn't that I really had a problem with makeovers; if girls—or guys—want to completely change their appearance and fuss over it and whatnot, that was fine by me. That was their priority. But I was perfectly fine with the way that I looked and I didn't like fussy over it the way that my siblings did. And I preferred art to shopping and when I did go shopping, it wasn't overabundant and it was usually for artsy stuff.

But my siblings were way too excited to have a new sister to even notice about any of that. They didn't really care, to be honest, though they were a bit put off that I wasn't a really traditional Aphrodite girl.

Still, it was hard to get them all to calm down enough to go to sleep when lights out came and went and even with darkness hovering around us, I could still hear them whispering excitedly and it took several hours for the chatter to down die enough so that I could go to sleep.

But I went to sleep with a smile on my face; I knew who I was. My mother had reached out and claimed me.

I was a daughter of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love.


	5. Sisterly Talk

**A Touch of Destiny**

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Five: Sisterly Talk

When I woke, I wasn't exactly sure where I was, because the ceiling above me was a frilly pink, not at all like my bunk at the Hermes cabin and it _certainly_ wasn't my bed back home, because I've got some of my artwork pinned above my bed, so it took me a few minutes to remember where I was and it wasn't until I was sitting up in bed, looking around at the cabin that I was sleeping in that it finally hit me.

My mother had claimed me. I was a daughter of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love.

Slowly, I slid out of the pink, frilly bed, taking a look around at all of my brothers and sisters that were already up and preparing themselves for another day at the camp.

"Morning, Lily," Valentine said with a smile at me as I made my way into the showers, carrying a few of my belongings.

"Good morning," I said nervously back. A few of my sisters hadn't exactly given me warm welcomes and more than a few of them had been . . . oh, how shall I put this and remain a lady? They had been hostile towards me when they realised how unusual of an Aphrodite girl I was.

Valentine grinned at me as she saw my nervousness. "Natives giving you trouble?" she asked.

I looked down. "Well . . . a little bit."

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it, I'll talk to them. It's just because you're new. Once they get to know you, they'll back off a little bit. But you're the first daughter of Aphrodite that we've ever had whose actually been a pretty good fighter. I mean, nobody in our cabin has ever actually managed to fight off a daughter of Ares."

"But wasn't that the whole point of the game yesterday?" I asked, a bit confused. "Wasn't that what I was supposed to be doing?"

"Yeah, but our mother isn't exactly a warrior goddess," Valentine explained to me as I stepped into the shower, weaving my hands through my hair as I shampooed it. "That's reserved for Athena and Artemis or . . . well, most of them besides Mother. She's the goddess of love, not battle. So it kind of makes sense that a lot of us aren't good fighters."

I nodded as I mulled through this. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense," I admitted as I washed. "Nichole is gonna be getting a lot of grief over my whipping her butt, isn't she?"

"Yep. Don't worry, though, it's about time that somebody whipped that girl into shape. She's got an attitude problem and it's about time that somebody curved that behaviour. Better keep an eye out for her, though," she warned me, "you never know if she might try and stick a knife in it."

"Is that literally or figuratively?" I asked, only half-joking considering that this was a camp for warrior training and we actually did carry around lethal weapons that could kill and wound people.

Valentine only sighed. "We'll just have to wait and see. But like I said, don't worry about our cabin, I'll give them a few words of warning. They'll back off in a couple weeks. Hang in there."

"Yeah, I'm trying," I admitted. While I was glad to know who my mother was—and now that I knew the truth, all that talk from my dad at how beautiful my mother was actually made some sense, considering she was the goddess of beauty—I was actually kind of nervous at how different from my siblings I was. Even though Valentine was nice to me and a few of the others were at least pleasant and cordial, a lot of them didn't like how different I was. All they seemed to care about was magazines and shopping and worrying endlessly about their appearances.

Me? I was fine with the way that I looked and at twelve, I wasn't about to start putting on make-up just yet. That was reserved for when I was actually a young woman instead of just a girl and while I was starting on the bridge to womanhood, I was only just beginning to cross it. I wasn't there yet.

And like I said, while I didn't mind going shopping, I didn't spend endless amounts of time at the mall, worrying about finding the "perfect" top to wear to school on Monday. Not to mention, Dad—while being a really good artist and owned his own gallery—had a limited income and we didn't really have the money to spend endless amounts of cash at the mall every day. Not that I really minded; as long as I had plenty of paper and pencils to draw with, I was more than happy.

"Did you ever meet our mother?" I asked my sister, who chuckled as I stepped out of the shower, fully dressed and proceeded over to the mirrors to brush out my tangled hair.

"Once," she answered with a nod. "It was a few years ago, before I even knew about this place. All I really knew back then was that I was different and that my dad was a jerk." She shook her head, anger making its way across her pretty features. "Ever since I can remember, my dad's ignored me, acting like I was in the way instead of actually being there for me and being my dad. He cared more about parties and drinking and having fun than he did about me. Mother . . . well, he's a musician and most of his songs are love songs, which is how she fell for him in the first place, I think. He wrote her a beautiful song and she fell for him. But he and his band members were always on the road and he wasn't interested in having a kid to drag him down, so he left me in the care of my aunt, his sister. But she didn't really care about me either, more interested in her work than caring for her irresponsible brother's kid." Valentine was bitter as she said that. "So she made sure that I paid my dues, helped out around the house, making sure that everything was spick and span by the time that she got home and if it wasn't, then she was very cranky. I was twelve when the monsters started coming and she blamed me for it. So I left, packed up my stuff in the middle of the night and took off. I didn't even know where I was going or what I was going to do. I think I was somewhere in Ohio when she showed up. I thought that she was an actress or something, from the looks of her, but she just smiled at me and told me that she was my mother. I couldn't even believe it, but I knew it was true. She took me to a bus and told me that there would be someone waiting for me when I got off. And sure enough, Chiron was there, waiting for me and I've been here ever since." She shook her head. "Don't hold your hopes on meeting Mother, Lily. She might help us out on occasion, but the gods are too busy with their duties to spend more than a few brief moments on occasion with their kids."

"I'm sorry about your dad," I said quietly, truly meaning it. It had never occurred to me just how lucky I was to have had my dad. I mean, he actually gave up everything for me, gave up everything that he had ever loved to open up an art galley so he could pay the bills and did everything in his power to keep me safe from harm. The idea that he could have just abandoned me and went on his own way had never once occurred to me.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about yours," Valentine said with a smile at me as I tried to brush out my hair. "Here, let me give you a hand."

She walked over to me, abandoning applying her lip liner to take my brush from me and gently began to brush out the knots in my hair, sweeping them out of the way rhythmically.

"You have very fickle hair," she commented with a laugh. "Pretty, but very temperamental. But there we go," she said as she brushed it all out and pulled it back into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. "So, we've got archery this morning, so try not to make all of us look bad, okay?"

"That might be a problem, archery's the thing that I'm really good at around here," I admitted.

"I know," Valentine said with a twinkle in her eye. "Get out of here, kid. I'll see you in the mess hall."

With a smile, I obeyed, heading out of the showers, back to the cabin and replacing my stuff before I followed the now familiar path towards the mess hall, almost joining the Hermes table by accident before I remembered that I was supposed to sit at the Aphrodite table now.

Stefan, who was chatting with one of his sisters, waved to me as I passed him and I smiled at him, grinning wildly as he got to his feet and headed over to me.

"Daughter of Aphrodite, huh?" he asked with a grin.

"Yeah," I agreed with a laugh, shaking my head as I looked up at his grey eyes. "Who would have ever guessed that one?"

"Not many," he answered, shaking his head. "But it's cool. I was kind of betting that you'd be one of us Athena kids, but I'm kind of glad that you're not." He said this with such finality and appreciation that I wondered what he really meant by that. "Anyway, I'll see you later at the arena for sword fighting. By the way," he added, "nice job with Nichole yesterday. I think she's still sore from the thrashing that you gave her."

I rolled my eyes. "Jeez, I wasn't trying to hurt her. Well," I admitted, "not really, anyway. I was just—"

"Training," Stefan finished up for me. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry, she'll get over it. Eventually. But we'll work on your sword fighting, okay? I think that you've got the archery part covered. Even Brandon said that he was thinking about moving you up to the advanced classes or at least letting you help him out as an assistant," he said with a grin at me. I shoved him playfully as he headed back over to his table and I moved towards my own, where my brothers and sisters had already shown up. A few of them gave me sullen looks as I joined them while a few gave me warm, friendly smiles, but Valentine was really the only one to really talk to me, so the conversation was pretty much nonexistent all the way through breakfast.

Whatever. I wasn't so used to being included that I expected to be welcomed by everybody. I rarely had anybody to talk to during school, so the fact that I did have a few people that I talked to on friendly terms—Valentine, Eli, Brandon—and one person that I actually considered a friend—Stefan—was a plus in my book.

At the archery range, I managed to get a perfect score on the targets, even managed to split one of the arrows right in the middle, getting me a lot of dirty looks, which Valentine only returned, silently telling them to back off of me. Brandon seemed to enjoy it, though; apparently, it had been awhile since there was a daughter of Aphrodite who was a good fighter and the fact that it was archery that I was good at was bonus points as far as he was concerned.

Since none of my siblings were really talking to me much, I spent as much time as I could away from my cabin. Stefan was always around for a shoulder to lean on, plus extra practice with sword-duelling and Ancient Greek. I still could barely even understand it, but at least the words weren't floating off of the page, which was a vast improvement to English.

Eli had been by a few times since I had gotten here, but he was heading off for a new assignment soon, so there wasn't much chance to talk. Apparently, most half-bloods are put under the protection of a satyr, who protects them until they are discovered by monsters and then they're taken to Camp Half-Blood. I was a rare one, not to be discovered by Chiron or the satyrs, but Chiron explained that children of Demeter and Aphrodite aren't powerful forces, so there are many of us that live peacefully in the world.

There were times that I would have killed to have my dad back, but I had to admit that I actually liked it here. I had never exactly fit in back at my regular school, had never been able to make friends easily. Here, I felt more at home than I had felt in years.

As weeks passed as I grew more and more adapted to life in the Aphrodite cabin—and Valentine was right; they did back off, though were still a bit wary of me—I had the feeling that things were about to change again.

There was a tempest upon the horizon, one that not even the gods themselves had foreseen. An unseen force was heading straight towards us, threatening the very core of the universe and little did I know that I was smack in the middle of it.

Stefan and I were sword-duelling in the arena, with Stefan trying hopelessly to teach me to fight. I'll admit it; while I'm almost an expert at archery, I'm next to hopeless when it comes to swords. I'd gotten lucky in that fight with Nichole—she was still angry about that, by the way—not to mention, I had actually used my bow in order to defeat her rather than a sword, but you'll never convince Stefan of that. He really thinks that swords are the way to go, but I think that's only because he's not as good an archer as he is a swordsman.

"Okay, step back," he instructed me, "and to the left, then forward and parry." I tried to mimic his steps as he showed me what he meant, moving the swords slowly together, gently clashing against mine. "And again. Forward, then back, try and watch my movements before they happen. Try and anticipate what my next move is gonna be."

"I'm never gonna get this," I sighed, but did as he told me, managing just barely to block his next attack.

"Yes, you are. Now block!" I had to dive out of the way and slam my sword up to block his next attack and moved into a defensive position as we battled our way around the arena. A few of the other campers looked around at us as we fought.

Not that it really did much good; Stefan still managed to knock my sword out of my hand half a dozen times and I had to dive out of the way to avoid getting hit by his sword. Thank goodness my reflexes are quicker than an average human's, ensuring that my instincts get me out of the way faster. I was getting annoyed though; I'd been here about a month and my skills as a swordsman were still much to be desired.

And when I get annoyed, I tend to get angry and when I get angry . . . well, you saw what happened with Nichole. Blame Dad; he was the one who had that Irish temper, as he called it, and I got that from him. So getting angry kind of gives me heightened senses in battle and I fought back more fiercely than I'd done all afternoon and just when I thought that maybe, just _maybe_ I might actually beat Stefan just once, a voice called out, "Enough! Halt."

I looked around to see Chiron walking towards us. After my first meeting with him, I had somehow gotten used to the fact that there were centaurs roaming around the world, but what I wasn't used to was the grave look on his face, suggesting that there was something wrong. I exchanged a worried look with Stefan before Chiron headed for us, looking at the two of us.

"Lily, Stefan," he said calmly, "if you two could come with me please. There are some things that we need to discuss."

"Discuss?" I asked anxiously. "Discuss what?"

"This conversation is better left for safer quarters," he replied, gesturing for us to follow him. "Come, let's talk up at the Big House." He trotted out of the arena and I looked at Stefan quickly, but he only shrugged before he headed after our teacher.

After a moment, I followed them, wondering what this could be about.


End file.
